The city of Rincon is resuming its search for a permanent city manager.

Wesley Corbitt, who had been the city’s finance director, has been the interim city manager since December. Rincon has gone without a permanent city manager after Mike Phillips resigned in August 2011.

Mayor Ken Lee said they suspended their initial search and notified all the candidates their applications and resumes would be maintained and considered active, unless those candidates informed the city otherwise.

"They are still being considered," Lee said. "We will now accept any additional applicants. We will use those to begin to make our determination about city manager."

The city is taking resumes through July 23 and is seeking a candidate with five years of municipal management experience and a master’s degree in public administration. All viable candidates also are asked to have experience managing a staff of at least 50 employees. A candidate with a combination of experience and education but lacking a master’s degree will be considered.

Lee said the city has not set a date for announcing a permanent hire.

"We haven’t really talked about any kind of time frame," he said. "We’re not in any hurry. We’re functioning well. Wesley is still functioning as interim and will to do so until we come to some permanent resolution on the position. We’re not in a position where we have to move quickly."

Not all council members were present when the council initially went through the stack of applications, according to Lee.

"So the process was never really begun," he said. "So when we start, we’ll be starting brand new. Hopefully we can get it when all of us can be together, because we want everybody to be a part of the process."

Lee doesn’t expect much action on the position over the next few weeks, especially since some council members will be taking vacations.

"We’ll try to begin that process as soon as we can," he said. "But there is no great urgency or time issues that would cause us to have to move quickly."